Jonathan Calder
@lordbonkers.bsky.social
Blogger at Liberal England. Expect Dickens, politics, Steve Winwood, canals, British films, Richard Jefferies, Shropshire, Englishness, chess, social history, Malcolm Saville, philosophy, Leicestershire and Rutland, comedy, railways... That sort of thing.
Pinned
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
There are some people who seem to see the recovery of ecosystems in a deforested waste as a personal affront. It's about power, and different landscapes reflect the different ways in which power is distributed - or concentrated.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Willow trees on Prince William’s land in Devon poisoned with herbicide
Exclusive: Unknown culprit suspected of spraying glyphosate on protected trees hoped to stop peat erosion and flooding
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:12 PM
There are some people who seem to see the recovery of ecosystems in a deforested waste as a personal affront. It's about power, and different landscapes reflect the different ways in which power is distributed - or concentrated.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Absolute scenes at an extraordinary meeting of the Northamptonshire Police and Crime Panel this morning. Councillors sought answers from the police and crime commissioner on what led to the chief constable being found guilty of contempt of court earlier this month.
Commissioner says chief constable’s contempt case has left ‘huge questions’ to be answered
Northamptonshire's police and crime commissioner faced a grilling this morning about chief constable contempt case
www.nnjournal.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Absolute scenes at an extraordinary meeting of the Northamptonshire Police and Crime Panel this morning. Councillors sought answers from the police and crime commissioner on what led to the chief constable being found guilty of contempt of court earlier this month.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
In a guest post for Liberal England, William Lane introduces a new kind of voter: the Oxford Lib Dem. They are urban, upwardly mobile but worried about housing and their future economic prospects.
GUEST POST Understanding the views and worries of the city of Oxford Lib Dem
William Lane has discovered a new political category: the Oxford Liberal Democrat. Who is she and what does she want from us? It was with g...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
In a guest post for Liberal England, William Lane introduces a new kind of voter: the Oxford Lib Dem. They are urban, upwardly mobile but worried about housing and their future economic prospects.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Stogumber, Somerset for #AdoorableThursday
November 27, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Stogumber, Somerset for #AdoorableThursday
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
November 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Tim Berners-Lee's vision of the future of the net; the ubiquity of violence against women; a new history of Ireland's Great Famine; a tribute to Jimmy Cliff; the relevance of Edge of Darkness today; a tour of Civil War sites in Shropshire
The Joy of Six 1441
"His central idea, as he has written before, is that people should own their data. Personal data is any data that can be linked to us, such ...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Tim Berners-Lee's vision of the future of the net; the ubiquity of violence against women; a new history of Ireland's Great Famine; a tribute to Jimmy Cliff; the relevance of Edge of Darkness today; a tour of Civil War sites in Shropshire
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Bob Vylan and Zarah Sultana to perform at festival near Market Harborough www.shambalafestival.org
@zarahsultana.bsky.social
@zarahsultana.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Bob Vylan and Zarah Sultana to perform at festival near Market Harborough www.shambalafestival.org
@zarahsultana.bsky.social
@zarahsultana.bsky.social
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Country diary: The river has risen to meet the trees. This is Storm Claudia’s work | Flooding
https://www.europesays.com/uk/597423/
Low sunlight casts the shadows of figures, standing on the Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury across the River Severn,…
https://www.europesays.com/uk/597423/
Low sunlight casts the shadows of figures, standing on the Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury across the River Severn,…
Country diary: The river has risen to meet the trees. This is Storm Claudia’s work | Flooding - United Kingdom
Low sunlight casts the shadows of figures, standing on the Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury across the River Severn, into trees. The willows have shaken
www.europesays.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Country diary: The river has risen to meet the trees. This is Storm Claudia’s work | Flooding
https://www.europesays.com/uk/597423/
Low sunlight casts the shadows of figures, standing on the Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury across the River Severn,…
https://www.europesays.com/uk/597423/
Low sunlight casts the shadows of figures, standing on the Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury across the River Severn,…
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
It's not often I agree with the old brute, but he's on to something here.
Lord Bonkers' Diary: "I’ll fetch you one up the bracket" liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/lord...
Lord Bonkers' Diary: "I’ll fetch you one up the bracket" liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/lord...
November 27, 2025 at 12:03 PM
It's not often I agree with the old brute, but he's on to something here.
Lord Bonkers' Diary: "I’ll fetch you one up the bracket" liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/lord...
Lord Bonkers' Diary: "I’ll fetch you one up the bracket" liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/lord...
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
... so much so that I suspended Labour MPs over it. Stop insulting everyone's intelligence man
November 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
... so much so that I suspended Labour MPs over it. Stop insulting everyone's intelligence man
Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
November 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Post a book you love from the 80s. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
I am absolutely thrilled to be in Dunoon with our fantastic candidate Alan Reid.
As the MP for Argyll & Bute for over 14 years, Alan knows this constituency inside-out.
At next May’s election, Argyll & Bute will be a two-horse race between the SNP and the Scottish Lib Dems.
As the MP for Argyll & Bute for over 14 years, Alan knows this constituency inside-out.
At next May’s election, Argyll & Bute will be a two-horse race between the SNP and the Scottish Lib Dems.
November 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I am absolutely thrilled to be in Dunoon with our fantastic candidate Alan Reid.
As the MP for Argyll & Bute for over 14 years, Alan knows this constituency inside-out.
At next May’s election, Argyll & Bute will be a two-horse race between the SNP and the Scottish Lib Dems.
As the MP for Argyll & Bute for over 14 years, Alan knows this constituency inside-out.
At next May’s election, Argyll & Bute will be a two-horse race between the SNP and the Scottish Lib Dems.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
This is such bullshit. This isn’t a headline. No idea what’s going on with Sky but this isn’t it. The journalists click bait question isn’t the news.
November 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
This is such bullshit. This isn’t a headline. No idea what’s going on with Sky but this isn’t it. The journalists click bait question isn’t the news.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
My review in the new issue of Liberator.
"The headmaster was skilled at keeping parents and even governors away from the school, which he had to be because his regime was geared to providing him, each evening, with half a dozen boys to beat. Some still bear the scars 50 years later."
"The headmaster was skilled at keeping parents and even governors away from the school, which he had to be because his regime was geared to providing him, each evening, with half a dozen boys to beat. Some still bear the scars 50 years later."
A Very Private School by Charles Spencer
A Very Private School: A Memoir Charles Spencer William Collins, 2025, £10.99 There used to be two prestigious prep schools near Market Harb...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:24 PM
My review in the new issue of Liberator.
"The headmaster was skilled at keeping parents and even governors away from the school, which he had to be because his regime was geared to providing him, each evening, with half a dozen boys to beat. Some still bear the scars 50 years later."
"The headmaster was skilled at keeping parents and even governors away from the school, which he had to be because his regime was geared to providing him, each evening, with half a dozen boys to beat. Some still bear the scars 50 years later."
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Sunrise from Glastonbury Tor this morning. The fields below bathed in that first golden light of the day. A sense of tranquility and calm.
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Sunrise from Glastonbury Tor this morning. The fields below bathed in that first golden light of the day. A sense of tranquility and calm.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
November 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
PM describes net migration of 205k as "a step in the right direction". His govt has no public position on a sustainable level of immigration is, nor any known process to decide what, why & how. Starmer is now implying he wants it significantly lower
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
Net migration drop ‘step in the right direction’ – Starmer
Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 but has fallen sharply since then.
www.standard.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
In a guest post for Liberal England, William Lane introduces a new kind of voter: the Oxford Lib Dem. They are urban, upwardly mobile but worried about housing and their future economic prospects.
GUEST POST Understanding the views and worries of the city of Oxford Lib Dem
William Lane has discovered a new political category: the Oxford Liberal Democrat. Who is she and what does she want from us? It was with g...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
In a guest post for Liberal England, William Lane introduces a new kind of voter: the Oxford Lib Dem. They are urban, upwardly mobile but worried about housing and their future economic prospects.
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
David McCallum – showing off his new car on his 1968 album McCallum
November 26, 2025 at 5:39 PM
David McCallum – showing off his new car on his 1968 album McCallum
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
Ian Anderson's definition of happiness. "In this age of atomic uncertainty, one must take one's pleasures where one may" - Harold Steptoe
November 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Ian Anderson's definition of happiness. "In this age of atomic uncertainty, one must take one's pleasures where one may" - Harold Steptoe
Reposted by Jonathan Calder
A quiet, eerie place, Llyn Dulyn in Eryri (Snowdonia) is steeped not only in an ancient folklore of evil spirits and witches, but also in a more modern ghost story. It was the site of multiple aeroplane crashes during WWII, and became infamous across North Wales.
Llyn Dulyn: The Ghosts of the Black Lake (Nationwide, 1973)
Another Fortean report from Nationwide , the BBC early-evening magazine programme that offered an incomparable portrait of Britain in the Se...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:43 PM
A quiet, eerie place, Llyn Dulyn in Eryri (Snowdonia) is steeped not only in an ancient folklore of evil spirits and witches, but also in a more modern ghost story. It was the site of multiple aeroplane crashes during WWII, and became infamous across North Wales.